Deadpool Review

Plain and simple, “Deadpool” is everything you ever could have wished it could be and then some. Since the Wolverine prequel and the sorry excuse for the Deadpool represented in that movie, Ryan Reynolds has been petitioning and begging Fox to make a true to the comic, R rated version of Deadpool for at least 6 years now and, oh yeah, we got one. It’s always nice as a critic, who tells you why you should or shouldn’t see a movie, when there’s really nothing to complain about. Ryan Reynolds was born to play Deadpool. I don’t think I needed to see him quite as naked as I did, but the suit fits perfectly. I really hope that this film goes down as a major wake up call to studios to let them know just in general a super violent movie filmed with graphic nudity doesn’t need to be softened to PG13 to make bank. I’ll even admit that in the comic universe Deadpool is not someone I’m completely familiar with. However, my bro Floyd knows everything about everything when it comes to Deadpool. First I’ll talk about the dialogue and story and save the action for later.

In the opening credits, instead of naming the cast, they decided to basically name the character cliche that actor was playing, so for Colossus it said a CGI character, but what I really loved personally as a writer, instead of the writers, it said “Written by the Real Heroes,” which we are by the way. They got Deadpool right as a character as they stayed very true to what the character looked like and acted like in the actual comic book. We’re kinda wondering why he couldn’t teleport yet, but that’s okay because I’m already signed on for a sequel. TJ Miller plays his good buddy and the comic relief, which is funny because Deadpool is already hilarious, but the two have such a great vibe and chemistry, it’s almost as if you’re hanging out at the bar with them. Look guys, no matter what, there’s always some sort of love story. It happens. What’s so likable about Deadpool is that even though he’s a douche and constantly comes out with the one liners, he’s a really good guy. Early on in the film he meets a girl. They ski ball, and as time passes without being too emotional Ryan Reynolds makes us feel a sense of heart to Deadpool by showing that he cares without overkilling it with sappiness. Deadpool is gonna die from cancer, and a mysterious man offers him a miraculous surgery, leaving him with burns and scars all over his body and making him a nearly indestructible potential superhero. I guess at this point some uncle would say with great power comes great responsibility, but Deadpool suits up for good, old fashioned revenge. There’s really not much substance there, but that’s its sheer beauty; simplicity.

Lets shift into a couple things I wasn’t quite satisfied with. I really found the villain and his henchman to simply be those generic cliche villains hellbent on destroying the world for absolutely no reason. While they had a lot of fun playing with the whole cliche character theme and it worked well on characters like Colossus, it didn’t work well with the villains of the film. As Ryan Reynolds says in the movie, they couldn’t afford any of the X-Men characters. As excited as I was to see Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead would not be my second choice. She played that moody girl who’s even on her phone during the final fight, and Deadpool does nothing but give her crap for being that exact cliche. I agree with Deadpool, she does look like Shineid O’Conner. The only characters that didn’t work were the villains, because Deadpool didn’t have enough ammo on them to make it fun or interesting.

For an introduction film for any superhero, the introduction is quite slow. Take the first Sam Raini “Spiderman” film from 2002 as an example. It takes over an hour for Spiderman to get in his suit to get the action going, and then there’s only 45 minutes left. With those movies, you’ve got to introduce the characters, the spider had to bite him, his uncle died, so on and so forth (sorry if I spoiled that for any Spiderman fans). “Deadpool” played it incredibly smart having the film begin somewhere actually towards the middle, which is a big action scene. So the way the movie works is it starts out with Deadpool in the middle of some badass action, then we go back to seeing his life before everything went wrong, and it does this back and forth in the first hour, then it’s full throttle from there. What’s badass about Deadpool from the get go is since he’s borderline invincible, he does not ever feel the need to censor himself around pretty much anyone. At first it starts out with a little generic toilet humor, but that’s just nitpicking because it found its balance of humor and action pretty much right out of the gate. The thing I loved most about the movie is specifically the dialogue, and even more so the self awareness the film had and it’s references to pop culture. At times it could be slightly annoying during the beautiful action scenes, where Reynolds likes to talk to the camera, but it was always getting a laugh. While playing the character of Deadpool, Reynolds goes on and on about his hate for the guy who played the Green Lantern. He talked so much crap about his acting career in a movie of his own, and he even admits Negasonic Teenage Warhead was not his first choice, but it’s all the studio could afford. At one point, he’s even quoting “Notting Hill.” He talks about how “Blade 2″ is the best “Blade” movie, even though he starred in the third film of the trilogy. Finally, even though theres a million references and gags I could mention, the absolute funniest to Floyd and I was that he woke up one morning wearing a shirt for the broadway show “Rent” and Floyd said, “No one can give me crap anymore.” The film also features the best Stan Lee cameo I’ve ever seen. I would love to know what it was like on set that day.

All in all, of course there’s a couple jokes that didn’t work, some characters weren’t perfect, but this film basically was. They didn’t overkill it with the R rating, and it was bloody fun watching Deadpool suit up and kick ass. I was laughing like crazy, and it was what a movie should be. A good time. I was out of town when I was invited to a press screening, and was super bummed, but in a way I’m glad I didn’t sit in a room full of critics to see this film. When Floyd and I showed up decked out in our Deadpool accessories, we were happy to see a sold out audience dressed the same. The audience was dressed as if it was a huge summer film, like Avengers or Starwars. Movies have been taking a beating in terms of attendance, and the fact that this is something Hollywood turned down for 6 years yet took in four times its budget opening weekend, I hope the studios realize what the audience wants because it was really the fans who got this movie made. That maybe a fan approach instead of a business approach is how Hollywood should be run. It was awesome in the middle of February to show up and see nothing but Deadpool shirts, hats, belts and shoes for the first chapter for what is sure to be a franchise. I can’t remember the last time a part one had so much fan base going in. The audience was clapping cheering, and going nuts the entire time. It honestly ranks one of my favorite movie going experiences of all time and makes me wonder one final thing. If Shwarma sold 800% more after “The Avengers,” what will this do for chimichangas?